Táin Bó Cúailnge relates the story's origins, history, and its many versions, providing a sense of this story's national and international appeal.

People who deal with early Irish literature, usually refer to Táin Bó Cúailnge simply as 'the Táin'. This is partly a handy abbreviation, but it is also the usage in Irish literature and it tells us something about the story; it is the original Táin, and the other stories whose titles begin with Táin Bó are all either later stories or old ones which have been re-worked to bring them into relationship with the Táin as remscélapreliminary stories. ...

And why was this black bull of Cooley so badly wanted? Well, one of the versions of the...